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Posts Tagged ‘check-in’

You may or may not know this, but I am a social media pack rat. Yes, it’s part of my job to try out the new apps out there and find the ones that are best suited for business, the ones that make your lives better, easier and way more fun. But, I have been hoarding social media profiles for as long as I can remember. I’m fairly certain I still have a Friendster account floating around out there, truth be told.

However, I finally had enough with the “new” Foursquare, better known as the SWARM app. One of the several things that made Foursquare worthy originally, aside from the fun of “earning” badges, was the deals with retail and vendors out there who could get me a free or discounted cup o’ joe, as well as see who else was hanging out in the airport while I waited on my delayed flight.

This new SWARM app that they are pushing everyone who has Foursquare to use is not fulfilling its destiny (and I’m not really even sure what its app destiny is). It lets you know which of your friends are hanging out in the area, but that’s really it. I hear there are upgrades coming — the old “mayor” status will come back, etc., but I’m not seeing the value here.

While it’s great to see who is hanging out nearby, another feature I liked found in the original Foursquare app was the ability to meet NEW people, and exchange NEW ideas. It was a true networking app. SWARM seems to be a friend app to let you socialize with friends. The “check-in” feature has officially been dropped from the original Foursquare app and switched to SWARM, but the benefits of that have been left behind.

I resisted deleting the app because my fingers actually get twitchy and I start to sweat a little, but enough is enough. While Foursquare has fallen in significance recently anyway, I still found it useful as a way to connect. Alas, no more. I’ll check-in via Facebook and use other discovery apps for the rest.